Trelawney's Prediction
by Ashleopard
Summary: Ron finds himself talking to Professor Trelawney who predicts love in his near future. RATED T JUST IN CASE. One-shot.


**I was on the prompt generator again... and this is what came out. It's kind of random but I was bored and sometimes people like random fluff so enjoy. :) Rated T just to be safe I think... probably more of a K+.**

Prompt: "A main character gets a fortune foretelling love."

**Ron's POV**

I ran down the long corridors of Hogwarts, desperately trying to find the way to the Potions classroom. I don't know what happened… I'd taken a wrong turn one place or another and now I had absolutely no idea where I was. _Blimey, _I sighed inwardly, _I'm almost finished with my sixth year at Hogwarts and I still get lost in the hallways!_

It seemed like a long time when I found myself in the… the Divination Classroom? I didn't remember wandering into the North Tower. Oh well, at least I knew where I was now.

Before I could turn to leave, the deranged Divination teacher – Professor Trelawney – appeared from a dark corner of the room. "Er… sorry, Professor," I stuttered. "I just lost my way… be going now…"

"Nonsense, Mr. Weasley," she said. I was half impressed that she called me by my name correctly. "While you're here why don't we have a look into the crystal ball? It's not often I get special appointments to predict the future…"

The regular, moderately rude Ron inside me said that I should tell her she was creepy and a fraud and that I had to get to class. But I had more sense than to talk to a Professor like that. Besides, she was one of the better teachers. Yes, she was completely mental, but she was still nice(ish).

And I was already late to Potions. One tiny misinterpreted fortune couldn't hurt.

"Sure," I shrugged nonchalantly. "Sounds interesting."

Professor Trelawney beamed and led me to sit at a table with a crystal ball in the center. I did my best not to act bored, remembering that otherwise I'd be stuck in a long Potions class while Harry got all the glory, as usual.

"First, do you see anything?" Trelawney asked.

I stared into the ball. "Er… nope. Sorry, Professor."

She nodded. "Perfectly understandable as to why you didn't continue with Divination… but as for your future, I predict…" there was a long pause. I could almost see the gears working in her head as she tried to match me with an excruciatingly painful fate. So it surprised me when she got this strange look on her face and said, "Love, my dear. Your crystal ball foretells love in the near future."

"Love?" I scoffed and scooted over to look into Professor Trelawney's side of the ball. "I reckon not, there's nothing but fog in there!" This was a drastic change from her constant death fortunes, so I decided to go with it. "But… just curious… what do you see?"

Professor Trelawney stared intently in, as if the picture may have changed in the last few seconds. She shook her head. "No, indeed love. I see an otter, a dog, and a rose. The rose symbol stands for all things sensual, sacred, pure, and romantic. The dog and the otter must represent two people, and considering this is your crystal ball, one of them has to be you."

"Rubbish," I breathed. "Thank you Professor, but I have to be going now. That was a very nice fortune…" _Too bad I can't believe it!_

"Have a good day, Ronald Weasley," Professor Trelawney called after me. "And remember that love has always been by your side!"

Wonder what she meant by that.

I didn't think about the fortune until later that evening in the Gryffindor Common Room. I was working on an essay about Dementors. "How d'you spell 'belligerent'?" I asked, shanking my quill as I stared at my parchment. "It can't be B – U – M –"

"No, it isn't," Hermione pulled my essay closer to her. "And 'augury' doesn't being O – R – G either. What kind of quill are you using?"

"It's one of Fred and George's Spell-Check ones… but I think the charm must be wearing off…"

"Yes, it must," Hermione pointed at the title of my essay, "because we were asked how we'd deal with Dementors, not 'Dug-bogs,' and I don't remember you changing your name to 'Roonil Wazlib' either."

"Ah, no!" I exclaimed, staring at my paper. That had taken me half an hour to write! "Don't say I'll have to write the whole thing out again!"

"It's okay," Hermione assured me, "we can fix it." She took the essay from me and pulled out her wand.

I sat back in my chair and rubbed my eyes, not thinking when I said, "I love you, Hermione."

I wasn't the only one who caught my odd choice of words either. Hermione's face lit up to a faint shade of pink and she glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. I bet I was even more flushed then her. Out of all the things I half-expected her to say, though (in a varying array of phrases between her yelling at me and thanking me for the kindly gesture of gratitude, perhaps) she merely said, "Don't let Lavender hear you saying that."

"I won't," I said while staring intently into my hands. They were suddenly very interesting at that precise moment… "Or maybe I will… then she'll ditch me…" But telling Hermione that I loved her was strange. It didn't feel light-hearted as I intended it to. It was much deeper than that.

Harry interrupted my thoughts. "Why don't you ditch her if you want to finish it?"

"You haven't ever chucked anyone, have you?" I asked him. "You and Cho just-"

"Sort of fell apart, yeah," said Harry.

"Wish that would happen with me and Lavender," I sighed. I dared to look at Hermione again, who was fixing all the misspelled words on my parchment so they corrected themselves. Professor Trelawney's fortune suddenly came back to me. _"And remember that love has always been by your side!" _She'd said something about a dog and an otter, right?

I was being stupid. Just because Hermione was the first girl I'd said 'I love you' to didn't mean anything. Just because I felt really strongly for Hermione didn't mean anything. Wait… what?

Then I realized Harry was still watching me because I'd recently spoken and I continued with my earlier train of thought. "But the more I hint that I want to finish it, the tighter she holds on. It's like going out with the giant squid."

That put a stop to the conversation, giving me plenty of time to think. What had Trelawney meant by dog and otter? Oh, dog! I remembered. My Patronus was a dog! I knew how to clear my conscious. "Oi, Hermione," I leaned over so Harry couldn't hear me. "What's your Patronus?"

"Huh?" she asked, glancing up at me in confusion. She must have figured I was thinking about my essay still, because she said, "Oh, my Patronus… it's an otter."

_Blimey, _I thought. _She was right! _

Thinking back, I had liked Hermione a long time as more than a friend. But I'd never considered her as someone that would become anything more to me because, well, she was Hermione. Yet now I'd been told that Hermione and I had the potential of being more than just friends…

For my birthday, I'd received a book from Fred and George. _Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches. _Maybe I'd actually open that book sometime.

After a shocking visit from Dobby and a confusing conversation afterwards, Harry headed up to bed. I stayed downstairs with Hermione who was siphoning the ink I'd spilled off my recently completed essay. "There you are, Ron," she said.

"Thanks, Hermione," I said, reading my work carefully. "You're a lifesaver!"

Hermione smiled more freely than she would if there were more people in the Common Room besides the two of us. "You're welcome. Now, we both need sleep."

I stopped her before she could move up the stairs. "Um… Hermione," I said in an off-tone. "There's something I'd like you to know…"

"Yes?" she asked. She seemed to have no idea of what I was about to say because she wasn't paying much attention to me as she packed up her books.

"Earlier, when I said 'I love you'…"

Now she was definitely paying attention. She dropped her books and turned to look at me. "Um… yes? What about it?" she asked quickly.

"Yeah," I hesitated, my courage fading. "I kinda really meant that. So… that's it."

Hermione blushed again, this time a little deeper. "That's sweet," she said. "And… I love you too, Ron."

I beamed widely. I didn't know what to say in response. Hermione saved me by glancing once more at her feet and then back at me. Then – like she did once before a Quidditch match in fifth year – she leaned up to me and gave me a soft kiss on the cheek. "Good night, Ron."

She left me down in the Common Room, smiling foolishly into the slowly dying fire.

**Reviews are appreciated! :D**


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